The Ion Mobility Spectrometer was invented by Dr. Martin J. Cohen and others in the late 1960's at Franklin GNO Corporation in West Palm Beach. The genesis of this idea resulted from Dr. Cohen's interest in gaseous electronics and radiation physics. The original patent for IMS, U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,333 was filed in October 1968, and granted Oct. 17, 1972. This patent discloses the concept of “Plasma Chromatography”, an early name for IMS and describes the instrument concept and shows a spectrum. This patent was followed by a number of others that describe refinements and expansions of the original IMS concept and instrument design, and discuss a variety of applications and analytical methodologies. These patents, all assigned to Franklin GNO, are: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,593,018; 3,621,239; 3,621,240; 3,624,389; 3,626,178; 3,626,179; 3,626,180; 3,626,181; 3,626,182; 3,629,574; 3,668,382; 3,668,383; 3,668,385; 3,697,748; and 3,697,749. U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,301 granted Oct. 29, 1974, describes the design and functioning of an IMS very similar to those used to the current day, with the exception of the specific method of detecting and observing the ion peaks.
IMS has military and anti-terror utilities for the detection of chemical warfare (CW) agents and explosives, for which the instantly disclosed device is uniquely capable. The US and UK governments have purchased instruments for use in the area of CW agent detection, in particular.
Under government supported contract research, primarily for the FAA for explosives detection, and for NASA for a unique methodology using IMS for planetary atmosphere analyses, basic technology currently used at airports for trace vapor detection of concealed explosives was developed. The NASA work produced instrumentation that was capable of providing trace component analysis of the atmospheres of Mars, Titan, and comets. This methodology was commercialized for the analysis of ultra-high purity gases for the semiconductor industry.
Patents for an explosive detection application and for the pure gas analysis application were issued: U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,652 granted Nov. 10, 1992, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,316 granted Oct. 10, 1995. A number of pure gas analysis patents, both US and international, have been issued, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,740,873 issued May 25, 2004, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,895,339 issued May 17, 2005.
The instant inventors have targeted commercial and government applications that require a rugged, dependable, miniature Ion Mobility Spectrometer. The initial objective was to concentrate on the explosive detection market which provides the greatest opportunity for the instantly disclosed unique miniaturized IMS. The instant inventors developed a hand-held detector for trace explosives detection. However, the focus of the NASA SBIR was to continue the application of IMS for planetary atmosphere analysis in which the rugged hermetically sealed miniaturized design was important to reduce weight and consumables usage. Out of this work, another important prototype commercial application for pure gas analysis has also been developed.